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Wassup everyone? Hope all is well and everyone is blessed. First off, my apologies for the tardiness. I was supposed to post this yesterday but my schedule and workload conflicted. On the bright side, it was not in vain. Struggled through a project for the past week and finally got it all together today. A rather nice "W" for me along the way....but off that...
Welcome to part 4 of "Learn Your History," the final part of the BHM series. We're already in March, but we're going to drop this anyway. During my fact-finding mission to gather material for this series, I found out the origin of February being the selected month. According to The history Channel, "Black History Month began as 'Negro History Week,' which was created in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, a noted African American historian, scholar, educator, and publisher. It became a month-long celebration in 1976. The month of February was chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln."
Pretty interesting fact. Not knocking Honest Abe, but he was more pro-union than he was anti-slavery...as was nearly all those who supported the abolishionist movement. In actuality, the union feared that the South's power, via the slave trade, would put them in a position to..........um, let's address that another day...
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101 Facts: 26-1
"Inventions and Discoveries" aka The Most-Known Unknowns
Fact #26
David Crosthwait Jr. (1898 - 1979) an expert on heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, holds 39 U.S. patents and 80 international patents pertaining to heating, refrigeration and temperature regulating systems. Crosthwait created the heating system for New York City's Radio City Music Hall.
Fact #25
Henry Blair (1807 - 1860), the second African-American to receive a patent, invented a corn seed planter in 1834 and a cotton planter in 1836. Blair could not read or write and signed his patent with an X.
Fact #24
Joseph Lee (1849 - 1905) invented a bread-making machine that mixed the ingredients and kneaded the dough in 1895.
Fact #23
Henry Brown created what is now known as a "strongbox", a metal container to store money and important papers that could be locked with a key in 1886.
Fact #22
L.P. Ray invented the dustpan in 1897.
Fact #21
C.B. Brooks invented the street sweeper in 1896. It was a truck equipped with brooms.
Fact #20
Sarah E. Goode (1850 - ? ) invented a bed that folded up into a cabinet in 1885. Contrary to popular belief, she was not the first African-American woman to receive a patent, but the second.
Fact #19
John Love invented the pencil sharpener in 1897.
Fact #18
Andrew Jackson Beard (1849 - 1921) invented the "Jenny Coupler" which allowed train cars to hook themselves together when they are bumped into one another. The device is still used today.
Fact #17
Alexander Miles of Duluth, Minnesota patented an electric elevator in 1887 with automatic doors that would close off the shaft way, thus making elevators safer.
Fact #16
Lonnie G. Johnson (1949 - ), an engineer who performed spacecraft system design for NASA, invented the Super Soaker water gun - the number one selling toy in America in 1991.
Fact #15
Joseph Winters invented a fire escape ladder in 1878.
Fact #14
Lewis Howard Latimer invented the carbon filament for light bulbs in 1881.
Fact #13
Jan Ernst Matzeliger (1852 - 1889) invented the Shoe Lasting machine, which connected the upper part of the shoe to the sole, a painstaking process that was usually done by hand. This invention revolutionized the shoe making industry.
Fact #12
Thomas J. Martin patented a fire extinguisher in 1872.
Fact #11
Dr. Charles Drew (1904 - 1950) discovered techniques to store blood and developed blood banks. (featured in left-side of heading picture)
Fact #10
Lewis Temple (1800 - 1854) revolutionized the whaling industry with his invention of the toggle harpoon in 1848.
Fact #9
Granville Woods (1856 - 1910) invented numerous devices relating to the railroad including a system of overhead electric conducting lines, air brakes and a telegraph system that allowed communication between moving trains. (Successfully sued Thomas Edison over patenting rights and was later offered a position in the company...hmm)
Fact #8
Frederick Jones (1892 - 1961) held over 60 patents with most of them pertaining to refrigeration. His portable air conditioner was used in World War II to preserve medicine and blood serum.
Fact #7
George T. Sampson invented a clothes dryer that used heat from a stove in 1892.
Fact #6
Mark Dean (1957 - ) along with his co-inventor Dennis Moelle created a microcomputer system with bus control means for peripheral processing devices. This invention allows the use of computer plug-ins like disk drives, speakers, scanners, etc...
Fact #5
James West's (1931 - ) research in sound technology led to the development of foil-electret transducers used in 90% of all microphones built today and in most new telephones being manufactured. West holds 47 U.S. and more than 200 foreign patents on microphones and techniques for making polymer foil-electrets. He was inducted into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame in 1999.
Fact #4
George Carruthers (1939 - ) invented the far ultraviolet electrographic camera, used in the 1972 Apollo 16 mission. This invention revealed new features of Earth's far-outer atmosphere and deep-space objects from the perspective of the lunar surface. Carruthers was inducted into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame in 2003.
Fact #3
Otis Boykin (1920 -1982) invented electronic control devices for guided missiles, IBM computers, and the control unit for a pacemaker.
Fact #2
Garrett Augustus Morgan (1877 - 1963) invented, among many other things, a 3-way automatic stop sign, which he sold to General Electric. It was used in the U.S. until the 3-light traffic sign was developed. (also invented the gas mask prototype, featured in right-side of heading picture)
Fact #1
Elijah McCoy (1843 - 1929) invented an automatic lubricator for oiling steam engines in 1872. The term "the real McCoy" is believed to be a reference about the reliability of Elijah McCoy's invention.
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This was a lot of fun and really informative, especially in this last post. I challenge everyone of black decent to make certain things a part of Black history and not the future. Unfortunately due to the powers that be, many perceptions as well as realities will never change. But there are others that can. In the past and in the present, so many contributions are made and have been made and we never hear about them...nonetheless, lets try to make history everyday, no matter what your skin color, ethnicity, religion, sex, age, etc. At the end of the day....we're all one people.
"All good things come to an end; what better reason to aim for greatness"
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